Johnson Reels' Marketing Genius By Dick Braun

Dick Braun, the Zebco guru, gave a talk on these reels at the last ORCA Nationals. He graciously allowed me to reproduce it on the blog for those who were unable to make his presentation. Many thanks to Dick for sharing the info!

Johnson Reels' Marketing Genus

By Dick Braun

In the Mid to late '50s, Joe Fisherman walks into the bait and tackle store looking for some new equipment for that new state or world record he knew was out there just waiting for him to show up and set the hoook.

Joe walks up to the counter and says he is looking for a new rod/reel and-the owner of the shop says Boy are you in luck, JOhnson reels district salesman just dropped off this brand new Johnson rod/reel combo and told me to lend it out to the fisher person looking to buy a new outfit. Take it with you today and use it. See how you like it, bring it back into the store before we close this evening or tomorrow morning and I'll sell you one just like it without the word DEMO or DEMONNSTRATOR stamped into the reel.

As far as I've been able to find out there are only 4 different models of the Johnson reels that were DEMO Reels,

1. Johnson Century Model #100,


2. Johnson Citation Model #110,


3. Johnson Centennial Model #120, Note that I have two of this model different only in the fact that DEMO is a little smaller type and on the left back side of the front/back plate of the reel spool housing, the other has a slightly large type of the word DEMO and is located on the right side of the back/front plate behind the handle so to speak, (see photo~).



4. Johnson model #80 side mount reel, this one has Demonstrator stamped on the box as we'll as the reel, (see photos). All of these reels were 1st issue model of each.



There could be a rumored 5th model, the Sabra, but so far it's just that, a rumor, as one has never been found to date that I know of.

An inventive way to get your reel into the hands of the fishing community, lend it to them. A reel for the day to fish with at no cost to them (the fisher person) and end up maybe selling another of your product which is what it was all about. What a great marketing ploy this was!

How many DEMO/DEMONSTRATOR reels are still out there for the collecting public to find and have? Want to borrow my Demo for a days' fishing, to test it out?

-- Dick Braun

Voices from the Past: Hart Stilwell (1944)

Today we address an issue that has become a critical one for many of us: rebuilding the Gulf of Mexico’s fisheries. As there are very hard days ahead for our friends in the Gulf, I thought it might be of interest to point out that the great and hearty people of the coast have faced hardships before and not just survived, but thrived. This 1944 editorial by Hart Stilwell points out the precarious position the coastal fisheries were placed in by the Second World War. It was published in 1944 in Field & Stream magazine.

A POST-WAR JOB

As a result of concerted efforts on the part of conservationists from Maine to the Rio Grande, we had reached a point at the outbreak of this war where it appeared quite likely that something might be done about the stepchildren of conservation--the shore-feeding salt-water fish. When war came upon us, things stopped there. This was natural. None of those interested in conservation raised any complaint.

We are fighting a war for our right to live as a free people, and whatever is necessary to get food for our people during wartime we must do. The only question raised at that time was this: that the means of taking these shore-feeding fish should be such that the supply would at least not drop off too sharply during the war. But when the war is over, those who would like to go to some quiet bay and snake out a few weakfish, those who would like to stand in the combers and battle a bull red, those who would like to balance on some rocky shore and cast a bait out for a striped bass with some hope of catching one--all these anglers must get together and plan a course of action if the things that they love and live for are to continue and be passed on to their children.

From personal experience we all know that the shore-feeding fishes of this nation cannot stand up under the concentrated commercial take of years gone by. We saw it in the case of the constantly dwindling supply of striped bass on the Jersey shore and near-by areas. We saw it on down the coast in the constantly dwindling supply, both in numbers and in sizes, of weakfish and channel bass. We saw this along the Gulf and down to Mexico. I have had a front-porch view of the transition in one large bay near where I live--a bay that supplies more than half the commercial catch of shore-feeding fish on the entire coast of Texas. I saw that bay change from the happy times when you could go there any day in the summer and catch a string of weakfish untiI the day--right now--when you are lucky if you can catch one or two. I have watched the redfish on the southern coast of Texas thin out from the days when fish were on hand by the thousands to the present time, when they are something of a curiosity. Crowds gather around you and sing your praises when you are lucky enough to catch a red.
All this has happened in a relatively short time--in the span of a few years. I am of the opinion that the direct cause was the beginning of intensive commercial operations in Mexico, immediately to the south of us. I believe, and many of the commercial operators agree with me, that fishing there has cut off the migration; and that whereas we once caught fish which came to us in a constant stream from vast, untouched spawning and feeding grounds in Mexico, we must now raise our own fish.

We are not doing this. We are, of course, doing nothing at the moment, because it is wartime. But our work is carved out for us. And it must be done if we are to save for ourselves and our children the joys that the vast stretches of shore-line from Maine to the Rio Grande have offered to the American angler.

The first step in this entire program is to find out some concrete facts, and at present we have very few. The only really authentic data on the shore-feeding fishes of the Gulf of Mexico are contained in a report made by the old U. S. Bureau of Fisheries away back in 1926. Officials of the Federal agency agree that these data do not fit conditions now. They agree that a new survey should be made. They are willing to make it if the funds are provided.

We know, or we should know, that to solve this problem we must trace the weakfish from the southern limits of his wanderings, somewhere around Vera
Cruz, Mexico, as far north as he goes. We must do the same with the channel bass. A purely local study may prove of little value, for we have before us the record of the manner in which commercial fishing in Texas is dropped off in direct proportion to the increase in catch in Mexico. The take in one place unquestionably affects the supply of other areas.

Before any long-range program of true-conservation can be mapped, this study must be made. And on the basis of such a study there certainly should be enough of us in the nation interested in conservation to push it through. It is barely possible that the once bitter opposition of commercial interests may not be so bitter when all the facts are available and a logical program worked out. For, after all, our objectives are the same-a constant supply of fish. Battle or no battle, however, we must do something to guarantee the future of our shore-feeding game fish.

-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week: 09 August 2010

B.A.S.S. has a new owner...an end to lead tackle?...Gary Loomis is sued by Loomis Inc.?...media falls for bogus shark video...backwoods brookies...man-eaters...Joe Thomas is an all-pro angler...Hidden Lakes...confessions of a tackle junkie...fishing in Finland...and Tasmania...Cornish angler catches weird fish...Harry "Bud" Grant is one of my heroes...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: B.A.S.S. has a new owner--Don Logan of Birmingham, Alabama.


Rapala changes its executive board.

An end to lead fishing tackle?

Woodland fishing rod maker Gary Loomis is sued...by G. Loomis, Inc.?



Media falls for bogus Jersey shark video.



Backwoods brookies are an old-school lesson in angling.

Keith Sutton on man-eaters.


Mille Lacs lake is famous for walleyes, but I can personally attest it has some big bass too.

Cleveland Browns Joe Thomas is a dedicated angler and fishing show host.

The aptly named Hidden Lakes are living up to their name.


Confessions of a tackle junkie.


Finland's Helsinki Times declares "I caught a fish this big."


Trees, fish, and worms...


Tasmania opens its world-class trout fishing up to the world.

Cornish angler catches deep sea fish five miles inland....


In the catfish world, ops are tops.


Finishing with a Flourish: The Old Ball Coach--Harry "Bud" Grant--still fishes the same waters as I do in Northern Wisconsin.



-- Dr. Todd

1000 Words

1000 Words

This week we feature a 1936 photograph of noted outdoor writer Courtney Riley Cooper. Cooper was the namesake of a line of bamboo fly rods (made by South Bend) sold by a Denver catalog store.



-- Dr. Todd

Deconstructing Old Ads with Bill Sonnett

“Spook”

I always cringe just a bit when I hear a Bass Fisherman on Television use the term “Spook” as in, “ I sometimes like to throw a 'Spook' when they're hitting on top”. I have come to realize that they are using the term to describe a Zara Spook by Heddon.

Over the years the term changed meaning even when it was used by Heddon. Starting with the solid plastic Super Dowagiac 9100, there always seemed to be internal tussle at Heddon whether to use the term “Spook” or “Fish Flesh” to describe transparent plastic lures with what they liked to call a “Ghostly Appearance.” The 1932 Heddon catalog saw the plastic-lipped Vamp 9500 introduced with term “Fish Flesh” prominently featured. In the end “Spook” won out as the “Fish Flesh” phrase gradually receded into the background in Heddon advertising.

Today's advertisement comes from the July 1933 issue of Outdoor Life and illustrates several changes in the “Spook” story. It is apparent in the ad that the new “Vamp-Spook” 9700 features a metal lip and “toilet seat” hook hardware. In addition to the pictured “Vamp-Spook” and the “River-Runt-Spook,” it is mentioned that two other long-time wooden favorites also are  now being produced in plastic as the “Basser-Spook” and the “Torpedo-Spook.” Several others were to follow these as counterparts to Heddon's line of wooden baits including the Zara-Spook as the plastic version of the Zaragossa.


The statement that these new lures are “guaranteed to outlast a dozen wooden lures” would in the end prove to be wrong. Beginning in 1933 “Spook” baits were made of a new type of plastic that soon started to deteriorate. Today, plastic baits from this era 1933-1939 can be very hard to find. Baits such as the “Jr Basser Spook,” the first version of the “Zara-Spook” (three-hook) or the 9160 “Wounded-Spook” are almost never seen and when they are they are usually shrunken almost beyond recognition. Unstable plastics and the economy of the “Great Depression” meant that few were sold and very few of those survived. Recognizing the problem, Heddon send a notice to dealers not to put the baits in display windows in the sunlight as it hastened their demise. They also promised to replace any decomposed baits.



-- Bill Sonnett

UPDATE: Pictures of Mikina's Bubble Minnie!

UPDATE: The Bubble Minnie

Thanks to Steve Kuchman, we have not just one but three pictures of Mikina's patented lure the Bubble Minnie. Thanks to Rob Pavey, Dennis Ladd, Gary Henderson, and Mark Fuhrman for the photos!


Rob Pavey has most cool lures in the box, including this Bubble Minnie. Note the "fuel" for the lure.


This Bubble Minnie of Dennis Ladd's shows the Mikina patent lure.


Mark Fuhrman shows the early boxes of the Bubble Minnie.

-- Dr. Todd

The Friday Funhouse

Video of the Week
A classic IGFA video featuring a massive Penn Reel in action.



Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them
This is a strange Bretton 902 French spinning reel.


This Master-Kaster No. 3 Pump Action Reel is a rare bird indeed.


This is a super neat 1914 Shakespeare casting reel.


This is a super cool old Martin Automatic fly reel and box.


This is an absolutely GORGEOUS Julius vom Hofe fly reel.


A nifty Granger fly rod is driving the W&M collectors insane.


The Rhodes Mechanical Frog is on the short list of classic frog baits.


A classic Orvis fly reel is one of the truly great fly reels of all time.


This VERY early Wes Jordan-made Orvis Battenkill was made for gunmaker Eugene Reising.


Of all bamboo fly rod makers, Hiram Hawes is my absolute favorite. As Wes Jordan once said, "I never saw a Hawes rod that wasn't perfect."


A CCBC Special Dace Dingbat is a really rare find.


This 1903 Harris Reel NEVER, EVER comes up for sale.


As always, have a great weekend, and be good to each other, and yourself.

-- Dr. Todd

Thursday Review: Bernie Schultz's Web Site

Thursday Review: Bernie Schultz's Web Site

Today we are going to take a closer look at the web site and blog of our favorite professional angler, Bernie Schultz. Of course, many collector's out there know Bernie as one of the most ardent lure collectors around, and his nifty web site has a great and informative section on Florida lures. This includes sub-sections on many of the famed Florida lure makers, ranging from Barracuda to Earl P. Gresh to Dazzy Vance. It's a very informative look at the wonderful variety of lures emanating from the Sunshine State.


However, a whole other subset of people know Bernie as one of the most accomplished bass professionals on the pro circuit. (To familiarize yourself with Bernie's bass fishing background read this feature article from ESPN about him). Suffice to say, Bernie's qualified for eight Bassmaster Classics--no mean feat in the hyper-competitive world of pro bass fishing.

Of great interest to me--and you--is that Bernie's also started up a new blog called Beatin' the Bank. This blog sees Bernie give unique insight into the pro bass fishing tour by penning entries about each of the tournaments he's fished. They are tremendously detailed and lively, as Bernie is a very good writer. But more importantly, they give a lot of insight into what it is like to be an angler who has to catch fish for a living. I don't think we appreciate the pressure these anglers put on themselves. Bernie pulls no punches and is as self-reflective as any writer in his position can be.

It's really illuminating to read these entries, and anyone with even a passing interest in bass fishing, the pro tour, or what it takes to be a professional angler from a personal standpoint would do well to follow Bernie's blog carefully.

You can find Bernie's web site by Clicking Here. His blog Beatin' the Banks can be accessed by Clicking Here.

-- Dr. Todd

Stan Mikina's 1948 Jet-Propelled Fishing Lure

Stan Mikina's 1948 Jet-Propelled Fishing Lure

The post-World War II era was ripe with new tackle inventions. Here's a neat one written up in the February 1948 Hunting & Fishing magazine that features a "Jet-Propelled" lure invented by Stan Mikina.

Inventor Stanley J. Mikina sets out to "fool the fish" as he loads up one of the ingenious lures he has developed. The Westinghouse research engineer, who designed the lure after an unsuccessful fishing trip, here inserts a capsule containing sodium bicarbonate and a harmless fruit acid. When the lure is dragged through the water, the mixture reacts with the water to produce a stream of bubbles that give off alluring little pops designed to attract the attention of fish. The body of the lure is made of lightweight magnesium with a filling of a foam plastic that enables it to float easily. Mr. Mikina has turned over his patent to two brothers in Detroit who are mass-producing the lure. Each capsule gives an hour's worth of bubbles.


Mikina actually applied for a patent on this lure in late 1945, and received it as Patent #2423717 on 08 July 1947.



It's an attractive lure that was one of a number of "chemical propellant/release" baits of the time that included the Texas-made Bleeder Bait. Anyone own one of these guys?

-- Dr. Todd

UPDATE:

Steve Kuchman of Bristol, CT writes: "I believe Stan Mikina's lure turend out to be the BUBBLE MINNIE.  There are quire a few of these out there. There was also a BUBBLE SALLY based on the same concept."

Cool! Anyone have a picture of a Bubble Minnie or Bubble Sally?
 
-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: A Bear on a Fly Rod (1887)

Today, I nominate my choice for the most horrific sportsman of the nineteenth century. The following letter is reproduced verbatim from an 1887 Forest & Stream and involves a braggart, a Charles Murphy fly rod, a double fly rig, and a bear. One can only hope Karma exists and somewhere, Mr. L.S. has to deal with an angry, angry bear in the after life.

A BEAR ON A FLY-ROD.

Editor Forest and Stream:

Wonders will never cease. Riflemen hit the bullseye and the world wonders, admires and praises, but was a story ever better told or a feat ever better accomplished than by my companion for many a year in the good old times in the Adirondacks now for the first time relates of his feat with a split bamboo fly-rod—a Murphy make. Oh, ye shades of Jules Verne, Dave Crockett, Adirondack Murray and Ed Derby! You ask if I believe it? Why of course I do. Ask Dr. R. if L.S. ever exaggerated a trout capture. Never! If Dr. R. is so easily humbugged ask Cort Moody, and if he don’t, as an old Adirondack guide and hunter, agree with Dr. R., why it must be regarded as incredible. Next! S. S. N.

P. S. The bear tracks are still seen and the mouth of the brook also, but the latter only with a powerful telescope, but no trout. S. S. N.

The tale told by L. S. here follows:

I saw lately an item in a paper stating that Mr. Murray was soon to publish two books on the Adirondacks. I was glad I saw that item, for it told me it was time, if ever, to reveal a secret I had carried many years. It cannot be called an old story, though the facts I am about to relate occurred long ago, for this is the first time I ever mentioned it. I should not do so now were it not an innate peculiarity of all Californians that they do not like the slow-goin’ people of “the States” to jump their claims. With this long preface I will begin the story.

I was staying one hot July at Bartlett's, when the only occupation was eating, smoking and lounging. Fishing was out of the question, as all the trout had long since left the rapids. Lute Evans came to the landing in his boat, going nowhere, but tired of holding down chairs where he came from. We discussed the trout question, that and the deer question being never-ending subjects up there. I never knew a guide who didn't profess to know where there was “an all-fired lot of trout," with many more strong sounding words thrown in. If you get him to take you there, and fail to take the fish, he tells you how many Mr. Chapin caught there, intimating that if you fished as well as Mr. C. you might be as fortunate. Who can fish as well, or who can argue against such an insinuation? During the conversation Lute told me of one Bill Moody, who had left that part of the country, but when there had a perfect trout mine in a stream entirely unknown except at the mouth, which comes into the Saranac River, just above the "Middle Falls." I secretly resolved then and there to prospect that stream and mine before the setting of the sun.

Arriving at the mouth of the stream I hid my boat in the brush and struck off into the back country by an old lumber road. After walking nearly a mile I came to the conclusion that the stream as a trout mine lacked one very important requisite, that was water. There was none it. Also that the alders were fighting each other for standing room. I retraced my steps, repeating, "It was ever thus, from childhood's happy hours I've seen my fondest hopes decay," when I was brought to a halt by seeing in the path directly in front of me, not 30ft. off, a beautiful black bear, seated on his hindquarters, and inviting me with his fore paws to just step that way a moment if you please. I said he was beautiful, I mean as bears go. He had long, clean black hair, which gently waved in the wind, showing the glinting sunlight upon it, and strongly-made arms such as I a long wished to possess in order that with them I might confound mine enemies. He had claws and teeth that looked as though they were capable of performing any task the Creator intended them for when he first designed bears.

When in a tight fix one is apt to notice many things, and to remember many. Drowning men are said to have brought in view before them the incidents of their lives. I hope I may not be drowned. My procession was marching by on the double quick. Among the rest I noticed a small dog I knew, who many years ago had one of his eyes cut out by a whip-snapper in the hands of a cruel hack driver, who passed the door where the dog sat.

I had not thought of that poor dog for years. Call it providential interference if you will. At any rate it gave me an idea I was not slow to act upon. If a dog's eye was taken out with a whip, why not a bear's with a fly hook? I had on my line two flies. The stretcher was a coachman tipped with gold, body peacock hurl, wings lead-colored pigeon. The dropper was a small brown hackle. I should explain that this selection of flies was made for trout and not for bears. I was in very good training at fly-casting at the time; but in casting for trout and casting for bears' eyes there is this difference: In casting for trout an inch more or less in the length of the line is of no consequence, as the trout comes forward to meet it. In casting at a stationary object like a bear's eye the line used must be exactly the right or it will fall short or strike beyond. If one had to practice, the length in time could be adjusted to the distance. Bears won't generally stand that without disagreeable objections. I drew the line from the reel until I thought I had the right amount, made a cast straight and quick, prepared to strike hard as soon as the fly reached its aim. It fell, or rather flew, an inch short. I again drew from the reel an inch and an eighth, and cast again, planting the hook (a Sproat) square in the bear's right eye.

A sharp, well-tempered fish hook, when one thinks of it, is an ugly thing. Bartlett had told me of Coleman putting one into his nose, Coleman being unaware he was fast until Bartlett made a few gentle remarks as he was being lifted off the boat seat. Bears as a rule lead such quiet, uneventful lives that a fly-hook taking out the working part of this one's eye was such a new experience that he took no more interest in me, but occupied himself with rubbing the remains with his paw. Having got the range, as a rifleman would say, it was an easy task to put the coachman into his remaining optic at my leisure. I then had a blind bear on my hands. With a stick I drove him into the river, where in his perplexity he sank to the bottom.

Should any one doubt the truth of the story they can see the mouth of the brook as they go up the river in the spying, and the old lumber road if it is not overgrown.

L.S., Santa Cruz, California

-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week: 02 August 2010

Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

Sharpes of Aberdeen history...not all trout tackle is the same...Pure Fishing in investing in angling's future...summer fishing in Yate...rod overboard!....a video of 300 gators feeding on mudfish...fishing the Pacific Rim...latest and greatest tackle from iCast...Carpapalooza...Shenandoah Museum displays tackle...St. Clair musky get bigger...Hawaiians target invasive fish in tournament...a record week on the Muddy Mo...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: A short history of Sharpe's of Aberdeen.

Why all trout tackle is not equal.

Pure fishing is investing in angling for the long term.

In Oregon, an ex-fishing club member's passion won't be forgotten.


Looks like a beautiful summer of fishing in Yate.


The skinny on the Tackle-Busters club.


Rod overboard!

Want to see video of 300 alligators feeding at the same time on a school of mudfish? OF COURSE YOU DO!



If you're fishing the Pacific Rim, keep in mind the monsoon season...

The latest, greatest tackle from iCast.

A local Fishing Derby gives out fishing trophies to kids.


Bowfishing at the Carpapalooza.
The South Bend Tribune says that junk tackle can bring big bucks.



Vintage fishing tackle is on display at the Shenandoah Historical Museum.

Buzz Ramsey can help you prepare for Chinook season.


Why we should expect St. Clair's muskies to get bigger.

Angling with Jiminy Cricket.


This Hawaii fishing tournament targets invasive fish.


Finishing with a Flourish: A record week on the Muddy Mo.



-- Dr. Todd

1000 Words

1000 Words

This is a great photo from 1949 of Charlie Sutphin at the age of 19. Sutphin was one of Indianapolis' (and the nation's) finest tournament casters, and taught Dan Basore how to tournament cast. Nifty photo.



-- Dr. Todd